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My husband loves Burt’s Bees Hand Salve. Living in El Paso he has always used some sort of hand salve or lotion after washing his hands and showering. We have been dabbling with all natural cleaners and body products for about 5 years now. I make whipped body butters, but he doesn’t really like them. When I finally said no more “poo” lotions he started using Burt’s Bees Hand Salve. It was the easiest to find, since you can find it everywhere, and it is a texture he likes a lot. Burt’s Bees is kind of expensive though, running about $7 for a 3oz tin.

Since his tour in Afghanistan he developed a red itchy skin issue on his arm, we think it is Eczema or Psoriasis. The “rash” only flares up every few weeks and slowly goes away. The hand salve keeps the rash from cracking and itching.

This weekend he ran out, just as his rash was reappearing. So, I suggested that we try to make him some. I already had most of what I imagined to be in a hand salve without reading the label or checking out Pintrest for recipes. Plus that would be much more cost effective. (We have this saying in our home “bet.ya.won’t”) So since he suggested I wouldn’t. I did.

As I looked up recipes on Pintrest I searched and searched but could only find ONE recipe for DIY Burt’s Bees hand salve. There were tons of DIY Chap Stick recipes but only one hand salve. I decided I would have to create my own, I researched which butters and essential oils are good for eczema and dry skin. I decided I would use all three of the butters I had on hand (Mango, Shea and Coco) since I used butters in my salve, the consistency is a bit stiffer than Burt’s bees salve, but is just as effective. My salve Cost me about $1.50 to $2.50 to make and this recipe filled two tins I had cleaned out to reuse, one was a 3oz Burt’s Bees tin and the other was a larger tin, my husband’s pipe tobacco came in. This means I saved more than $10 by making my own. Okay, let’s get to it.

You will need containers to store your salve in, a double boiler and the following ingredients.

Start your water boiling in the double boiler on a medium heat. Place the bees wax and butters in the top part of your boiler, allow them to melt down. Once they are liquid add coconut oil, stirring until melted into the mixture. Now you can add all the other oils. Once your mixture is all melted you can turn the heat off and pour the mixture into your containers to cool. It does not take very long for the mixture to start hardening. If the mixture hardens before you have time to fill the containers, just melt it down again.

You could add other essential oils for a different scented salve, if you would like. I would suggest the following because they are good for your skin, but any pure essential oils would work.

Lavender Lemon Rosemary orange Chamomile

Tips:

If you do not have a double boiler, you can use a rice cooker, slow cooker, or larger pot of water with smaller pot or metal bowl. (Just be careful to not burn the mixture)

If you do not have the butters you could substitute them for coconut oil. This will change the consistency of the salve.

The more oils you add the softer the consistency will be.

Try to find reusable or recycled containers to help keep your cost down.

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